TN CM EPS sacked from party post as TTV Dhinakaran escalates AIADMK feud

The feud within the ruling party of the Tamil Nadu assembly is showing no signs of simmering down.

The ‘ousted’ Deputy General Secretary of the AIADMK TTV Dhinakaran sacked Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami from the post of Salem District Secretary on Sunday.

In other changes in the party, government whip S Rajendran was "relieved" as the district secretary of Ariyalur, reported PTI.

Villupuram (South)’s functionary and MLA R Kumaraguru were being replaced. Sivaganga district secretary Lok Sabha MP P R Senthilnathan was also removed, the PTI report added.

TTV said that these changes were made with the approval of AIADMK General Secretary VK Sasikala, who is currently serving her sentence in the disproportionate assets case.

Meanwhile, call for a trust vote is growing stronger, with the DMK’s senior leaders meeting the Governor on Sunday. Earlier, opposition leader MK Stalin, leader of the Congress Legislature Party and other opposition parties asked the Governor to direct CM EPS to stand for a floor test.     

With at least 21 AIADMK MLAs showing allegiance to TTV Dhinakaran, the united EPS-OPS faction does not enjoy a simple majority in the House.

However, MLAs of the TTV faction face the risk of disqualification, with the chief whip of the AIADMK party in the assembly S Rajendran asking Tamil Nadu Speaker Dhanapal to take action against those MLAs. Rajendran said that those MLAs violated the party protocol and went to meet the Governor without prior permission.

If the Speaker disqualifies these MLAs, it would bring down the number in the assembly, which, in turn, would mean that the unified OPS-EPS faction of the AIADMK will enjoy a simple majority in case a floor test is held.

The current crisis broke out after the much-celebrated unification of the EPS and OPS factions on August 21, after months of backroom talks. The TTV faction objected after it emerged that the EPS faction has conceded to the demand of removing Sasikala from the party as demanded by OPS.